Reports on Animated Series DVDs Were Premature

Contrary to previous reports and rumours, Star Trek: The Animated Series will not be released on DVD this March, nor likely this year.

Following up on a report at TrekWeb, TV Shows on DVD contacted their initial source, writer David Gerrold, who had mentioned that Columbia House had spoken with him about recording extras for a planned DVD release of the animated Star Trek. Gerrold stated that he had not been approached beyond an initial inquiry about his interest in participating in animated DVD commentary, and said he had no information about when such DVDs might be released.

TV Shows on DVD also noted that Paramount, which has released the DVD sets for the live-action Star Trek shows, has disavowed involvement in any planned animated series sets. Star Trek writer Kevin Dilmore had reported at the Psi Phi Star Trek Books BBS that he had e-mailed Martin Blythe, formerly of Paramount Home Entertainment, who said that Paramount had no plans to release the DVDs and that the rumoured release date of March 15th had never been confirmed.

TV Shows on DVD noted that the rumours about the upcoming release always said that it would come from Columbia House, not Paramount Home Entertainment, but that a phone call to Columbia House had yielded no new information. "It's equally possible that this release is indeed coming, that extras were cancelled (explaining why Gerrold never received a follow-up call), and that Columbia House will simply pop it out onto their offerings to club members whenever they're ready," wrote David Lambert, who made the call.

The original TV Shows on DVD report is here, in response to an article at TrekWeb.